About IU Northwest Biology
The Biology Department consists of eight full time faculty - seven doctoral recipients (Ph.D.) and one M.S. level instructor. Adjunct faculty include Ph.D., M.S. and B.S. level instructors who are carefully selected to fill specific teaching niches. We also have four full-time support staff: administrative assistant, academic advisor, instrumentation technician, and lab technician.
The Biology Department is housed in Marram Hall and occupies the entire third floor. Facilities and equipment housed in the department enhance both teaching and research. There are multi-user molecular and microbiology laboratories, modern anatomy and physiology classrooms, tissue culture facilities, a greenhouse, an on-campus ecosystem restoration and numerous links to other campus and local resources. The building also houses the Chemistry Department and Geosciences Department, which allows for easy collaboration between the departments. Across campus is the Indiana University School of Medicine - Gary, where some of our faculty have adjunct appointments. This offers opportunities for joint research ventures focused on medicine. Also, just up the road from campus, resources such as the Indiana Dunes National Park and Lake Michigan provide opportunities to study the interactions between rare ecosystems like black oak savanna and human endeavors like steel production.
- understanding the links between hypertension and kidney disease to autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis
- discovering novel roles of select genes and proteins in fruit flies to extrapolate to homologous systems in humans
- investigating bacterial strains, populations, and diversity in our region's waterways to understand new transmissions of antibiotic resistance
- active restoration of wetlands and other natural areas destroyed during industrialization
- monitoring ecological restorations to better understand how lasting those efforts are and provide guidance for future efforts
- documenting the current diversity of fungi in our region including discovering new species to examining the ongoing impacts of air pollution on biodiversity
While we have a firm foundation in traditional life sciences, we are also engaged in several emerging interdisciplinary areas. Faculty participate in research and academic programs with colleagues in other departments on the IU Northwest campus, other major institutions in northwest Indiana, as well as those throughout the Midwest such as Northwestern University, the Field Museum of Natural History and the Missouri Botanical Garden. Our interdisciplinary connections with internal and external collaborators are expanding with the development of new programs at the IU Northwest campus. The Department expects to take a leadership role in the development of new undergraduate and graduate programs in biotechnology and environmental sciences that promise to play critical roles in work force development required for the expansion of the life sciences in Northwest Indiana.
